Red Light District

Red Light District . . .

You hear the name and you immediately assume,

Candy store just for your sexual appetite,

But if I told you the truth behind the music,

Neon lights and the dancers performing,

Would it still be just a candy store?

You feel the vibration of the base as you walk down the alley,

The cool breeze gives your skin the bumps,

The chill overwhelms you, yet you ignore it.

The base of the music gets louder,

Muffled behind the steel door waiting for you to grab the handle

And you walk in . . .

Neon lights flashing,

Did you know the vision you see is distorted by reality?

You walk in, all eyes on you.

You take center stage,

You perform, but what?

The eye liner that contours your lids,

Brings out the seduction, so they say . .

Play the part they want to see,

Your hips begin to move to the rhythm of the beat,

You feel the base vibrate your chest,

You’re intoxicated, you can’t feel anymore.

You sit among the cannibals, watching yourself

You look deep into your own eyes,

You stare at the ground, avoid the eye contact of your predators

As they stare perusing your body with their hungry eyes.

You are nothing but meat,

They stare, examine, decide and then they pick.

Comparison to a grocery store in the market,

When we look for that lean meat,

Less fat, more protein and the thickness.

Not too big, but enough to devour our taste buds.

Music fades as I swing around the pole,

The watchful eye is constantly staring,

Too much demands I can’t keep up.

I spin around uncontrollably,

I fall on the ground,

My palms touch the mirror,

My mascara streaming down my face,

My skin so pale, I’m like a ghost . . .

Behind me the monster that clinches my body

Through his claws,

Blood is dripping from my nose,

Too much cocaine I just can’t stop.

I stare at my hands, covered in black and blue.

Gripping onto the floor, trying to hold myself up,

As he’s cannibalizing my body.

I close my eyes, tears fall among the drips of my eyeliner,

I pray for death,

No redemption for me.

No one perceives me as a prisoner,

I am just a clown performing for predators.

Over and over I am raped,

Silent victim, because I have no voice.

How did I get here?

Yeah, I chose this life because I have nothing better to do

Then to choose misery . . .

To be persecuted by family, society and even to dealers,

Is to be sold without limits.

Without education, without stability and without love.

Did God forget about us?

Where do we belong?

Yes, right here in Red Light District.

Did you get to visit the dumpster?

You didn’t think they have one?

As I take you down the dark alley,

I open up the steal rusted corridors and as the doors swing open

Bodies piled up, Used up

And now thrown away.

After years of infecting our bodies

To fulfill the mouths of predators,

There was no cure . . .

My body cast out, piled on top of lifeless women and children

Who’s lives cost nothing, but millions to those who own us just to satisfy

The hunger of the Beast.

Think it’s harmless?

When do you want to sign up?

 

By:  Chong N. Kim, 1-2-12

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